On the 24th of November 2011 we had Leading Teams – Managing Success event held by Jim Bagnola at Crystal Palace Ballrooms. The event was part of the Leadership Tour that took place in Cluj, Timisoara, Belgrad and of course Bucharest. The proposed theme of discussion was – team leadership & management, that was underlined until the end of the event with words like responsibility, productivity, performance and team work.
“A well prepared management team is the one able to see the potential of each team member and able to sense the moments in which the team needs motivation in order to have an increased productivity. Each team has it’s own recipe, everything we read in books we should not apply it as such, but it should be taken into consideration the history and the characteristics of every member of the team.” underlines Jim.
The modality of transmitting the ideas was diverse, from practical to theoretical examples. The practical exercises were a mixture of brain and body, and the conclusions were that everyone should analyse the five elements of each efficient team: preparation, cooperation, communication, luck and execution. These five elements aren’t so far of what we learn and practice each day in order to be efficient.
Another conclusion of the event was the emergency. The team collaborates well in emergency moments because people don’t take into account the personal problems that affect their daily team communication.
At the end of the event we had a panel held by Radu Manolescu, Managing Partner KM Trust & Partners, Christos Karabelas, HR Director Ericsson Romania & Moldova and Petru Pacuraru, President LEADERS Foundation, and as moderator was Jim Bagnola. There were several questions from the public that were answered. The majority of questions were for those at the beginning of the journey of becoming managers and entrepreneurs. The answers were as the conclusions taken before: the preparation is basic at the beginning. If the foundation is wrong then the end is near.
We hope to enjoy your team creation and have wonderful results.
This is the only body you have; you have to take care of it;
You don’t sleep for your body, but for your brain;
Normally, we don’t have the time to think about what we think about;
Main problems for health:
Malnutrition;
Dehydration;
Stress;
In life: 75% of our health is given by our lifestyle choices, while 25% by our (good) genes;
The more you know about a topic, the more you know you don’t know about that topic;
Note:
Perfect is unreal;
Imperfect is real;
What is the most important 1/10th of a second? This moment;
A rather inadequate question: “How many times to I have to tell you this?”;
Funny – “Give him a smile. Not that kind of a smile”;
Very good addressing of objectives;
“Parents are not always right, but they should always be treated right”;
Question to ask to a person doing an unpleasant behavior:
“When you did that, what was your intention?” “…” “That didn’t work; would you like to know what would work if you intend to …”;
When you give feed-back, it should be a balanced feed-back:
Improve side;
Appreciate side;
When you give feed-back to a child, give both kind of feed-back;
What do you do with a child who wants to the one thing he/she’s not supposed to do?
Option for use, instead of “but”: “otherwise”;
Whatever you put your attention on, it grows;
Parents have to get used to their children testing the rules;
A says something to B;
When this happens, B should repeat the thing to A, to make sure B understood correctly;
Men are not as good as women at communicating;
Once you get paid, you turn professional; you’re a professional at something if you get money for doing that job;
People tend to do the same things over and over again;
When you read / write / go and get a shortcut you are exposed to other people’s thoughts; you learn from them; thus, education is a very good thing;
You are creating heaven or hell around you;
Personal note: Jim can move me, touch me;
Solutions of a priest in South America:
Meditation;
Yoga;
Group therapy;
Love;
Boys & girls being boys / girls scouts;
Jim’s role, as self-defined: “I’m just here to remind you to do it”;
Addressing to the audience: “The world needs more of you”.
_______
Bottom line: Well, as told above, Jim still moves me, after all those years I’ve seen him in conferences.
Between tears and laughter. Lessons about life and entrepreneurship with Jim Bagnola
“If you don’t feel like you’re out of control, you’re not going fast enough.”
Mario Andretti
In the context of a world still shaken by the effects of the economic crisis and the impact of its moral implications, Jim Bagnola spoke in Cluj and Bucharest to hundreds of Romanian managers, entrepreneurs and young professionals about how to laugh in front of the crisis and, implicitly, how to lead the much needed change both at the individual and the societal level.
Jim, chosen among the top 20 leadership speakers in the world, has set himself to shape professional human beings wherever he goes in the world and he is doing just that in Romania for 10 years now.
Change has always been perceived as negative because we cannot predict it and control it but the key to surpass it is by adapting, re-aligning, performing in the new environment and, finally, evolving as a person and as a professional. As Jim said, when confronted to a crisis, to a sudden, unexpected and unwanted change, it’s natural to be upset – it’s unnatural to continue to be upset!
We asked Jim several questions about the seeds within our hearts and our minds that we are planting in these changing days / days of change.
1. How much and why do you laugh every day?
Because laughing is, actually, the opposite of the stress response. The stress response causes the release of toxic chemicals in the system so when a crisis occurs, normally, we are going to go into fight or flight – it’s a normal response. Laughing allows neuropeptides to be created in the physiology – laughter brings blood back to the cortex – it’s the opposite of the stress response. Laughter allows us to be more conscious. One of my training partners told me once, when I was upset because of a flight being canceled: You upset? Yeah… Well, why don’t you do some of the things that you’re teaching? And I laughed and I again realized that laughter brings you back into control.
2. You state that your main mission as a trainer and coach is to develop professional human beings. As we all have so many certificates and diplomas for PM, NLP etc., how would you organize an exam for obtaining the certificate for humanity/being human?
Yeah, I actually have in my book seven lessons to become a professional human being and I have developed an assessment and they are very simple. One is how much you love your job, two would be – are you using your talents in the service of other people, do you love to serve other people (most people think it’s a job but it’s just service, in fact), third is the topic of this course – are you going out of your mind over change?, are you staying in your mind, how often are you getting out of your mind? and how can we counter this? so right now we’re talking about the psychology of staying in your mind or getting back as quickly as possible, re-aligning with the new reality. The fourth one is – are you seeing yourself, are you using your brain power to see yourself in the position in life that you want because you hear so often people say – I cannot see myself doing that! – and they won’t – that’s the way the brain functions, it projects and creates the spoken reality. The fifth one is – do you know what you value most in life? because if you know your values, it’s easy to make decisions and if you do not know your values, you will compromise and, first of all, you won’t like yourself and it will be hard for you to make a decision. Growing from that is number six – if you do not know we’re you’re going, more speed won’t help. You have to create a mission – God’s not going to come down and say – Guess what? Here is your mission! – no, you have these talents, I want to serve people in this way, I am not going to let change get in my way, I will accomplish things, I can see myself doing it. And the last one, lesson seven is – I will take care of myself and recharge my battery on the journey in order to achieve my goal – so I meditate, I eat properly, I rest properly.
3. In this context, to what extent do you consider that the economic crisis that we are facing nowadays is, in fact, a moral one?
It is a huge moral crisis and it starts with the United States. The banking system took advantage of the lack of control, of governmental control and law. They cheated – I am going to loan you money even though, don’t tell anybody, you won’t be able to pay it back – because I get money for loaning it to you. Later on, you will fail, you will lose your house, you will lose whatever is left, but I don’t care. So people did this and went down the line… Total moral failure of the US… of the banking system and of us, the individuals – we borrow money that we can’t pay back, we buy things that we can’t pay for so the debt is high – we did it as individuals – it was an individual choice.
4. If you were to prepare a special potion for successful people, how much education and how much talent would you pour into the melting pot?
People should not stop learning at the knowledge level. Stress hampers the full potential of the individual and people started to use meditation techniques. It is on the rise within all the US education because our education is failing. You have all the knowledge, I just have to tap into it and make you aware of it – that’s what the teacher’s job is. And being a teacher – I am a corporate teacher – my job is to allow you to understand that all your knowledge is structured in your consciousness.
On 24th November 2010, at Marriott Hotel Bucharest, took place the “Leading change laugh crisis” workshop with Jim BAGNOLA. The event took place at Marriott Hotel Bucharest and was organized by LEADERS Romania.
- Change is anything that is not included in our list of expectations;
- A thing on evolution: it’s going to get better, but first it has to get worse, before it gets better; the market tells us that what goes down has to get up;
- You should be thankful to change and new things;
- Travelling gets you ready for life;
- Let’s say you are upset by someone or something; it’s best to get the irritable state faster, because it does damage; don’t stay in the upset mindset for a long time; it’s human to be upset, it’s inhuman to yourself to continue to be upset;
- Change cycle: create, maintain, and destroy;
- Causes of change: people, technology, knowledge, competition;
- Sort of a joke: it is difficult to communicate with people with temporary insanity (in an argument, the pulse goes up, the attention span goes down);
- Things will permanently change in the future; solution – flow with it, and don’t resist it;
- If I anticipate that things will change, I will be more flexible;
- You have two options for change: realign or resist;
- In the current situation, if you’re not confused, you don’t know what’s going on;
- Quote by Mario ANDRETTI:
“If everything seems under control, you’re not going fast enough.”;
- Solution for decision-taking – do your best and consider it a success;
- Physiological change is quick, easy & natural: a person gets new skin once a month, the skeleton changes every 3 months, the DNA at the level of the atom changes every 2 months;
- Change is perceived as negative, because of our inability to predict & control it;
- If you don’t get plenty of sleep, you won’t adjust to the situations around you;
- Ask yourself:
Do you get enough sleep?
Do you rest enough?
You have to be prepared to play the game of change;
- YouTube video: Did You Know 2.0:
- Also: India has more honor students than the US has students;
- The most profitable companies in the US have women in top management or have a woman as a CEO;
- Recommended authors:
- A change in the road is not the end of the road, unless you don’t take the curve;
- The world’s most powerful impulse: … to blame;
- If you’re going to make a change, you should change the way in which you talk to yourself;
- If you are faced with a difficult situation, ask yourself: what else can I do? (top)
B. The behavior – what did Jim do that was really impressive?
- When someone says something, try to notice the positive part of what that person says;
- If something is said and done slower, you will remember it better (thus Jim never seemed to be in a hurry);
- All in all, it’s not only what Jim says, but also how it says it and his overall behavior;
- Jim constantly referred to what happened before that day – what X said, what Y did before;
- Jim empowered people to speak in groups;
- How to embrace the change? How about talking to someone you didn’t know at the conference?
- A good solution to listen good is not to interrupt while the other is saying and give verbal or body cues that you are listening;
- Although some affirmations the participants made were negative (“I don’t agree with this”, “This is wrong”), Jim always said a thing similar to “Yes, I agree with you”; also, in a lot of times, he also gave a personal example which made the affirmation of the participant, a negative one, even more stronger (“I see what you are saying, I also…”); (top)
C. Romanian Leadership vs. International Leadership panel
Silviu HOTĂRAN
- In a big company the only constant is change; you have to change;
- In leadership you have to lead by example;
- You have to have the ability to imagine a better future than today;
Dan MOCANU
- A new vision is linked to some risk;
- What makes a leader a leader is the ability to handle a risk;
Cătălin IONESCU
- Past discussion:
- What do you do? (was asked)
- I am CEO; (answered, and explained the position)
- And when will you start having a real job? (was asked again)
- It only takes a 15 minutes training to do a good job at time management:
PERFORMÁNȚĂ, performanțe, s. f. Rezultat (deosebit de bun) obținut de cineva într-o întrecere sportivă; p. ext. realizare deosebită într-un domeniu de activitate. ♦ Cel mai bun rezultat obținut de un sistem tehnic, de o mașină, de un aparat etc. – Din fr. performance.
performance = 1a : the execution of an action b : something accomplished : deed, feat
2: the fulfillment of a claim, promise, or request : implementation
3a : the action of representing a character in a play b : a public presentation or exhibition (a benefit performance)
4a : the ability to perform : efficiency b : the manner in which a mechanism performs (engine performance)
5: the manner of reacting to stimuli : behavior
6: the linguistic behavior of an individual : parole; also : the ability to speak a certain language — compare competence 3
There are different definitions in these two languages for the same word;
Jim BAGNOLA
- A company has to align the needs of the manager and of the employee to match the needs of the client and satisfying them;
- You should let your customer be your guide;
- To evaluate performance, you should log everything that you do, and show what results did you get by doing those things;
- Instead of scaring the employee (make him fear something), we should be focusing on loving our customers;
- How does an employee think?
If you are competent and caring, then I trust you; be a good leader and I will follow you?
Radu MANOLESCU
- These two are different entities:
- Recommended author on different cultures: Geert HOFSTEDE;
- Romanians are a feminine society, unlike the Nordic societies, or the French one;
- Greeks are number one in avoiding uncertainty;
- Leadership is about tolerance;
Jim BAGNOLA
- The one thing that the customer remembers about the company – how you made me feel?
Radu MANOLESCU
- In the below formula:
V = Value for costumer;
R = Result;
Exp = Experience;
P = Price;
CA = Cost of Access;
Jim BAGNOLA
- The manager should be evaluated by the employees; he should receive feed-back from all of the employees, anonymously;
- Success is divided equally between the manager and employees;
- The center of the business should be the employee;
Dan MOCANU
- Success comes from a common goal, a plan to do a change and follow-up to implement & evaluate;
Radu MANOLESCU
- If you want to succeed as a company, you have to have space for mistakes; allow mistakes;
Silviu HOTĂRAN
- What you are living every day – this is your culture & values.
Flexibility in thinking, capacity of adapting, new ideas, values and vision!
This I wish you every day! But for this attitude to be refreshed daily with the most inspired thoughts and ideas I propose you a competition where we offer 3 seats to the workshop I will present on the 24th November at Marriott Hotel „Leading Change Laugh Crisis”. All I want from you is an argumentation about how you see the element of change in Romania at this moment and what you do to do to change things as they are now and, how this workshop will help you in your activity.
I challenge you to talk about change management in a time of crisis on the 24th of November at J.W. Marriott – Grand Bucharest Hotel. I invite you, managers and entrepreneurs to understand the value of change and to implement it in your organizations and the environment you belong to.
We will discuss about the best attitudes and strategies a company can use for change management. We will discover together how to use the key competencies of change management: flexibility, adaptability and resiliency. You will learn to anticipate change instead of reacting to it, to engage instead of defending against it, and embrace instead of resisting it.
I also prepared a surprise for you: my newest book, « How to Become a Professional Human Being ».
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